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Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Book Darts! A Follow-up from the cpo Moleskine Customization Method -- And a Review

You might recall from my previous post on how I set up my Moleskine planner/journal/wallet that I was originally planning on using Book Darts for my organization. If you missed that one, or you enjoyed it so much you wanted to read it again, you can find it here. Anyway, I ended up buying some magnetic book marks that were still pretty cool, but I really wanted to try the Book Darts. Well, boys and girls, I found my chance. I found them at a local Denver book store named Tattered Cover, so I picked up a tin of 50. The price wasn't bad at around $8 and no shipping to mess with. I really like Tattered Cover. You can find a photo I took of the Highlands Ranch, Colorado store at:

So, you can count this as an amendment to my original post but also as a quick review of the Book Darts.

First. Man. These are awesome! Now that I have them in hand (and in book) I don't know how I was able to settle for the i-clips that I ended up instead. These things are super thin, super light, and hold to the page with a grip that simply amazes me.

As you can see in this photo I originally shared, the i-clips add a little bulk to the Moleskine.

i-clips

Now, however, take a look at my Pocket Moleskine with the Book Darts!

Can you even see the Book Darts!?

I lost a little bulk by switching to the book darts, but the end result is still where I want to be. I have a section marker that helps me quickly get to where I want to me. Granted, I did lose the colors, and the thick item to quickly grab, but the Book Darts still make getting around very easy.

So some of you are this point are still confused by what a Book Dart is, exactly. I was unsure too, which is why I am spending a little time giving you some detail and photos. Let's take a look.

Book Dart tin

Bottom of Book Dart tin

To quote essentially what the picture above says:

Book Darts are a bookmark for exactly where you stopped, and a linemarker for discoveries you want to find easily. They are archivally correct. A safe alternative to paperclips, underlining, and highlighting. Will not stain. Don't let kids eat them, and they are made in the USA.

This things are hardly thicker than the paper they clip to! Here is how they compare against the i-clips I was formerly using:

Book Dart vs i-clip

Not only was having a thinner solution better for bulk, there is also the matter of the actual real estate taken on the page. As I mentioned in my other post, I use the marker to point to a writable page for each section. What that means is that I end up writing on that page, and then the marker gets in the way, so I have to move it around. The Book Dart takes up much less room on the page. I am using them upside down (blunt side up rather than the arrow side up) to give me even more room as depicted below.

Book Dart vs i-clip

Here is what the Book Dart was designed to look like (arrow on page you are marking). You can see that it still doesn't take up a lot of room, but the blunt end is almost a non-issue on the page that I am writing on.

Both sides of a Book Dart.

While these are a great addition to my Moleskine....I am very excited to use them elsewhere. Heck, I just bought a tin of 50, so I have plenty. I can think of many spots to mark in my Bible already. Even with a typical reading plan, I am in 4 books each day, plus wherever my Pastor happens to be teaching from, plus whatever personal study I am doing, plus wherever I am scribing at the time (you can learn more about that from http://scribingthebible.blogspot.com/). The options are endless.

I am still amazed at the magical combination of small, light, and snug-fitting these Book Darts are. I am very impressed.

And because Book Darts is a sponsor of this blog...

Well... Okay. The truth is that they are not a sponsor. They don't even know I exist. But, I like em anyway. And so will you.

1 comment:

I used to use these a lot when I was doing research because I hate marking up books. Levenger used to have Page Points, which were the same idea, but a different shape: about 25% broader, and a simple triangle on the pointer side. Mine were nickel coloured, so I used the points and the darts to distinguish different kinds of things in the text. Very handy. I see Levenger now has Page Nibs, which look to be the darts stamped in the shape of a fountain pen nib!